You know what I miss? Folks showing up at the local voting venue on–of all days–voting day.
It’s beyond old school, I know, and the more than 2 million early Florida voters are testimony that voting-day voting is such yesterday thinking. Why not mail it in or go earlier when it’s likely less crowded?
Frankly, I like a live political vibe on voting day. Even though politics permeates society, it’s appropriate for this day. Even signage of loathsome candidates is a sign of involvement. There’s a sense of common American-democracy cause even among ideological opposites. Duty calls.
What begins as a solemn rite–can turn into a community conclave.
Plus, we don’t do enough as a community beyond concerts and games. We’re so wired. In-person communication is no longer a priority–or necessity–when texting and Skyping are available.
And when it comes to politics, we keep building our walls. We just cherry-pick our media for validation and our events for like-minded camaraderie. More conservative or more liberal neighbors rarely have to mix except at awkward cocktail parties.
So there we were, my wife Laraine and I, at the Kate Jackson Community Center in South Tampa last Tuesday. We were prepared for some mid-day down time, but that’s a modest price for participatory democracy. Well, the down time was zero.
There were no voters ahead of us. The poll workers, who are not on commission, seemed particularly disposed to small talk. We did our best to comply. The turn-around time was still a matter of minutes. It could have been 30 seconds, and that would have included affixing the “I Voted” sticker.
But, still, we reminded ourselves, what was truly important is that people vote–not when and how.
Only one caveat. Early voting has serious, sometimes downright perverse, implications.
Primaries are volatile processes. The candidate-herd ultimately thins, and no one can predict the precise timing of drop-outs. Some issues move to the fore as the demographics change. Some dynamics change as the candidates manifest other dimensions–for better or worse.
In short, there is reason to wait and see how it plays out–and which players literally remain. Voting too early can negate a vote–or invalidate a later assessment. No mulligans.
The good news is that there were no major precinct embarrassments throughout Florida. This is, after all, still the hanging-chads, obscenely long-lines state to many Americans. It’s almost enough to forget about all those early Jeb Bush votes that wound up in the political ether.